Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Providence Magistrate’s Court on Monday adjourned the Buddy’s fuel trial pending the defence’s response to the prosecution’s statement made at the previous court appearance.
Defence attorneys Glenn Hanoman and Vic Puran were both absent but Mischka Puran stood in on their behalf and arranged a later date at which the defence will respond to particular points raised by Prosecutor for the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) Anil Nandlall on the previous occasion.
Last September marked two years since the alleged illegal fuel was discovered during a GEA operation.
The agency said that acting on information received officials visited the Buddy’s Farm around 10 pm on September 27, 2005. When they arrived, the ten defendants were seen offloading fuel from a trawler named Ashley S into drums. A fuel tanker, it is alleged, was already filled. Tests were carried out on the said fuel and it was allegedly found to be illegal.
Arrested and charged were Deonarine Singh of 104 Collingswood, Nandy Park, EBD; Wazir Mohamed of 28 North Road, Bourda; Clement Huntley of 39 Wisroc, Linden; Fitzgerald London of 494 Canvas City, Linden; Sanicharran Ramgolam of Number 64 Village, Corentyne; Ceezann Vandelwin of the Pomeroon River; Errol Prince of 43 Garnett Street, Kitty; Joseph Allen of Diamond Squatting Area, EBD; Ramsahai Basdeo of Lot 101 Cornelia New Housing Scheme and Osbern Richards of Supenaam, Essequibo Coast.
They were jointly charged with possession of fuel without the relevant marking in the right proportion and possession of illegal fuel in a quantity exceeding 2,000 litres without a licence.
The trial of the ten accused and the trial of businessman Omprakash `Buddy’ Shivraj, on whose property the alleged illegal fuel was found, were merged.
The matter continues on February 28 at the Providence Magistrate’s Court.
